Thursday, March 4, 2021 • ThE BuLLETIN
GO! MAGAZINE • PAGE 3
LIVE
MUSIC FOR
THE WEEK
p.23
ALL THINGS MUSIC
bendbulletin.com/golisten
Stellar songs to soundtrack a trip to
OUTER SPACE
BY BRIAN MCELHINEY • The Bulletin
H
umanity’s fascination with the cosmos shows up in our art time and time again, and music is no exception. Examples abound: John Lennon singing “Across
the Universe,” Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album, the Afrofuturism and deep mythology of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Fender Stratocaster guitar
(a derivative of “stratosphere” and so named to capitalize on the space race in the 1950s). Oh, and Hawkwind, which turned an obsession with the universe
into a genre (space rock). GO! Magazine is celebrating all things space this week, in honor of NASA landing the Perseverance Rover on Mars recently. This playlist of 13
space-themed songs (last year marked the 50th anniversary of Apollo 13’s safe return to Earth) will hopefully get you into a galactic mood.
“LIFE ON MARS,” DAVID BOWIE
Perhaps the strangest thing about this en-
try is that it’s not “Space Oddity,” which is
arguably Bowie’s most “space rock” song.
But “Life on Mars,” with its surrealistic lyrics
about cavemen and police officers “beating
on the wrong guy,” evokes stronger emo-
tions (at least in this writer) while being less
on-the-nose.
“MOTHERSHIP CONNECTION (STAR
CHILD),” PARLIAMENT
George Clinton not only pioneered funk
music with his Parliament-Funkadelic mu-
sical collective, he also helped bring Afrofu-
turism to the fore, especially with the more
pop-oriented Parliament group.
The 1975 album “Mother-
ship Connection” is one of
the best examples of the
group’s sci-fi leanings, and
this track in particular in-
troduces Clinton’s alien
alter-ego, Star Child.
“SLIME CREATURES
FROM OUTER SPACE,”
“WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC
Of course the king of
123RF
weird has to appear on a
space rock playlist. (This
reporter will not rest until Weird Al is on
every playlist, ever.) A style parody of The
B-52s and Thomas Dolby, “Slime
Creatures from Outer Space”
relays the story of the titular
aliens’ Earth invasion, as
only Yankovic can.
“COMET, COME TO ME,”
MESHELL
NDEGEOCELLO
A late-career entry from
a respected, formative art-
ist, “Comet, Come to Me” is
the title track on Meshell Nde-
geocello’s 11th studio album, re-
leased in 2014. The music rides
a pseudo-reggae groove with elements of
soul, funk and rock — a fine compendium
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“ASTRONOMY,” BLUE OYSTER CULT
Though not necessarily thought of as
space rock, Blue Oyster Cult always struck
me as the perfect soundtrack to a flying sau-
cer ride. “Astronomy,” originally released on
1974’s “Secret Treaties,” definitely fits the bill,
with sci-fi-themed lyrics (by producer Sandy
Pearlman) that reference constellations and
other celestial objects (“the light that never
warms” = the Moon, for an example).
“SPACE JUNK,” DEVO
This formative track from Devo’s 1978
Continued on next page
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